1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to communication networks and, in particular, to techniques for providing link services in a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In communication networks, power consumption of interconnecting links constitutes a substantial portion of overall system power budget and may exceed the power needs of nodes (e.g., switches or servers) of the links. Conventionally, the interconnecting links are maintained in an operational state (i.e., a full-power data transmitting state) continuously. Alternatively, the links may be maintained at full power during time intervals scheduled based on predictions of the intensity of data traffic. However, powering the links of a communication network based upon traffic prediction may cause transmission delays or more power consumption or both, due to over-prediction or under-prediction.